10 Traditional Masks from Around the World

For centuries, masks have held many meanings, sometimes embodying spiritual, mythic, and ancestral powers. From masks made for initiation ceremonies to carnival celebrations, take a closer look at where and when they would be worn around the world.

Though African women rarely wear masks during dances, the mask shown below is unique in that it is worn by members of the Sande Society during public masquerades. The masks of the Sande are known as ‘sowei’, which is the name used to refer to ‘wise women’ of the group.

This feathery mask was likely used during funeral ceremonies for the great chiefs of the Kanak, the indigenous people living on the tiny island of New Caledonia, off the coast of Australia in the South Pacific.

To this day, New Caledonia is a French territory, and the original purpose of the mask has been lost to the forces of westernization and modernization brought to the islands by colonial administrators and missionaries.

The Sowei and Oro Efe masks can be seen to celebrate women and femininity, while the Komo mask was worn by the Senufo and Bamana peoples of West Africa at male-only societies and fraternities.

Typically made up of blacksmiths or other high-ranking members of the community, the Komo and Poro societies control the central functions of government, education, spirituality, and the economy in their culture. Such a mask would be worn by only the most senior members.

Close by the Kanak of New Caledonia live the Asmat people of West Papua, New Guinea, who made this mask. The Asmat used this as part of the jipae, which (like the occasions on which the Kanak masks were worn) was a ceremony honoring dead ancestors by taking on their personas.

Made from string and strips of leaves from the sago palm, the masks embody the souls of the dead, who are said to depart at the end of the ceremony.

This colorful mask comes from Oruro, high in the Bolivian Andes. It was typically worn during carnival in the ‘Diablada’ dance, or the ‘Dance of the Devils’. The iconography of the mask combines elements of the Spanish colonizers’ Catholicism with aspects of the native Andean gods.

Across the world, the Korant’s mask is used in very different carnival celebrations, which occur in the fields and streets of Slovenia between Candelmas and Ash Wednesday. These masks were part of celebrations heralding the arrival of spring and chasing away winter.